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Words or Phrases That Don't Make Any Sense to You

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Foreign Jackass said:
Hey, look, a guy wrote a book about a non-sensical theory!
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You are willing to bash a experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, and linguist because you don't like a certain phrase?

MattKeil said:
As someone from the northwest I think you're hearing something that isn't there. They're said exactly the same. Some people understand what the phrase means and some people don't. The latter group uses "could."
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No it is there, and I already quoted a linguist that explains the difference.
 
Hilbert said:
Could care less is fine.

As is: Fat Chance, and Tell Me About It. Both of which also mean the opposite of that the words say. Check out The Language Instinct By Stephen Pinker.
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Hilbert said:
To be fair, in my opinion, the intonation usually sounds sarcastic too me. I edited my post with a reference. Argue with Pinker.
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Acerac said:
For all the people saying this, it is obviously meant as a sarcastic comment.

edit: Oh god 10 people just said that that's what I get for only reading half the thread before replying.
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I couldn't care less is already a sarcastic remark. You are saying that there exists a topic where you care so little that it would be impossible for you to care any less about it. It doesn't make sense to use sarcasm on a sarcastic remark.

"Tell me about it" isn't used in the same sense at all. It means, "I truly understand what you're talking about because I've been through it multiple times." It's not sarcastic. It's an idiom or expression.
 
I've heard the word "ignorant" misused a few times before. It's pretty ironic. But that's not what this thread is about.

"Head over heels" makes no sense.
 
"Having your cake and eating it too"

Never understood this, why would you have cake if you're not going to eat it?

"Good for you"

To me, it always sounds so sarcastic and patronising.

"literally"

People just never use this one right.
 
Mully said:
There are certain phrases or sayings people have that just don't make any sense to you. What are some of yours?

I don't understand when people say "True" to me after I tell them something. It makes me annoyed. It's like they weren't listening, but they want to make it look like they were. What the hell does True mean? I don't get it.
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Whenever I say "True" I'm either:

A. Agreeing with you
B. Wanting you to shut up

Either way I'm wanting you to shut up. Do you hear that a lot? How unfortunate.

And for me:

"In so much as..."

"Par for the course..." Someone explained this to me once and I still can't wrap my head around it.
 
Murkas said:
"Having your cake and eating it too"

Never understood this, why would you have cake if you're not going to eat it?
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The word 'have' is supposed to be synonymous with 'eat' in the context of the phrase. The same way we say in Britain at least, 'I had a slice of pizza earlier'
 
"That's jokes" Is probably the worst phrase this generation. Right up there with using "win/fail" in real life conversation (although it's pretty cringe-worthy online too).
 
Murkas said:
"Having your cake and eating it too"

Never understood this, why would you have cake if you're not going to eat it?

"Good for you"

To me, it always sounds so sarcastic and patronising.

"literally"

People just never use this one right.
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You can't have a cake AND eat it.

You either have a cake, or you eat it. Once you eat it you don't have it anymore.
 
Flip175 said:
"That's jokes" Is probably the worst phrase this generation. Right up there with using "win/fail" in real life conversation (although it's pretty cringe-worthy online too).
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Agreed. "Fail" was funny until I heard someone else use it. I stopped immediately. It's truly horrid.
 
Khold said:
It's impossible to both eat your all your cake and still have cake
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That's how I always translated it as well, but I've heard other explanations that, to me, make as little sense as the sentence itself. What's confusing is "having cake" is the same as "eating it" in all practical terms. It's almost like it started as a play-on-words joke and then was reworked into a moral.
 
.GqueB. said:
Whenever I say "True" I'm either:

A. Agreeing with you
B. Wanting you to shut up

Either way I'm wanting you to shut up. Do you hear that a lot? How unfortunate.
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Not often at all. I just heard it from a friend I haven't spoken to in a while today. I hear it from "Bros" a lot.
 
Mr. B Natural said:
That's how I always translated it as well, but I've heard other explanations that, to me, make as little sense as the sentence itself. What's confusing is "having cake" is the same as "eating it" in all practical terms. It's almost like it started as a play-on-words joke and then was reworked into a moral.
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That's not what it's supposed to mean though.

You can't have all the money in the world and spend it all too.

It's actually very simple. You cannot have A and not A.
 
22lGN.png


BELIEVE WHAT? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE?
 
I don't like the fact that "spaz" has radically different meanings in the UK vs. America.

UK people freak out if someone from the US mentions it, the US person often doesn't know what the big deal is, and then there may or may not be a shitstorm.
 
Mully said:
What the hell does True mean? I don't get it.
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Norway would confuse the hell out of you, then. People use both "true" and "not true?" all the time as responses, and it means the same thing. And when we respond with "not true?", we nod.
 
The term "pre-order" has never really made sense to me. It would seem to indicate that I'm NOT ordering something quite yet but will soon. Aren't I just reserving a copy? Why not use that word instead of making up a new nonsense word?

Then there's the whole topic of mis-used phrases. I cringe every time somebody refers to a simple coincidence as a "perfect storm."
 
I find it strange when people use "drug" as the past tense of drag. Like, instead of "I was dragged here", it's "I was drug here." heard otherwise well spoken people say his.

also, "OK". what doesn't stand for? no one knows!
 
FStop7 said:
"All but forgotten"

All = Everything

But = Except


So if something is "everything except forgotten" that means it's not forgotten. It might be stupid. It might be ugly. It might be purple or pink. But there's one thing it isn't and that's forgotten.

And yet, the phrase "all but forgotten" means something IS forgotten.

I fucking _HATE_ that so much. I hate it. It's a bug in the English language.
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That's not what it means. The fact that you would be, presumably, talking to someone about the very subject would mean that it is NOT forgotten. Hence, it is all but forgotten. You two might very well be the last people alive to care or know about the subject at hand.

In other words, it would be forgotten if it wasn't for the fact that you were talking about it at that very moment.


Nerfgun said:
I find it strange when people use "drug" as the past tense of drag. Like, instead of "I was dragged here", it's "I was drug here." heard otherwise well spoken people say his.
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I catch myself doing this one. Also, hanged vs. hung gets me.
 
Hilbert said:
I couldn't care less and I could care less are said with different intonations, at least here in the northwest where I am from. There is definitely a sarcastic component to it.

edit:
If you say to someone: "man windows ME crashed again, it is such a piece of shit" and they respond "Tell me about it", do you stop and go: "Did you mean to use that in a sarcastic sense, because 'tell me about it' is asking me to talk about it more, implying that you don't know about it."

Of course not, because their response would be, "Don't be an asshole, you know what I meant."
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AIP%20owl.jpg
 
marrec said:
You can't have a cake AND eat it.

You either have a cake, or you eat it. One you eat it you don't have it anymore.
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mindblown.jpg

For me it's "Couldn't care less." to me I always think, "But have you tried? I'm pretty sure you could care less if you tried."
 
Gotten

It just sounds wrong. It's one of those words I had to make sure was actually real because sounds so dumb. I hate it.
 
Ok yea, 'rttp' has always been something that I never understood either. And now that I've looked it up, I'm still not finding an answer. What on earth are people trying to say when they start a thread with 'RTTP'? Weird. :/

EDIT: Got it. Its an Asian version of LTTP. ;)
 
Seanspeed said:
Ok yea, 'rttp' has always been something that I never understood either. And now that I've looked it up, I'm still not finding an answer. What on earth are people trying to say when they start a thread with 'RTTP'? Weird. :/
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